The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (
www.knightfoundation.org ) is supporting the JumpStart America
Initiative (
www.jumpstartamerica.org ) as a way to involve new leaders in their
community's economic future. Part of the Startup America Partnership (
www.startupamericapartnership.org ), the community-focused effort
builds on regional public, private, philanthropic and institutional
partnerships to spur the creation of new jobs by developing, identifying
and supporting high-impact entrepreneurs.

A challenge grant, Knight's support kicks off an effort to raise an
additional $14 million to implement the program over the next three
years. Knight was an early supporter of the work, initially providing
$500,000 in seed funding to help six regions in Minnesota, Indiana,
Michigan and Ohio. The founding pilot project subsequently expanded to
New York and Louisiana.

"JumpStart's approach is based on one simple truth: to succeed in
creating an environment for innovation, we must deliberately focus on
engaging the community in determining the best way forward," said Paula
Ellis, Knight Foundation's vice president for strategic initiatives.
"Its focus on empowering transformational change, while leveraging
technological solutions like the online community IdeaCrossing (
www.ideacrossing.org ) demonstrates the type of innovative approaches
we encourage."